Category Archives for "Marketing"

Resources for the Local Economy: Living Over the Shop

Traditionally, Living Over the Shop (LOTS) was the obvious thing to do.  Before the era of mass pubic transport, commuting was limited.  What could be easier than rolling out of bed, downstairs and into your work area?  Students of the history of architecture will no doubt have records of several types of housing that allowed workers, their families and employees to live and work together.

Living Over the Shop in Sheffield Town Centre

Speaking of students of architecture, I met some this week on Fargate in central Sheffield.  They were displaying some of their work on uses for empty buildings in the city centre.  They have a Facebook page, Fargate Co-Studio 2016.  (I don’t know how long this page will be live, so if you are a historian of twenty-first century local economy bloggers, please don’t be disappointed if you don’t find it!)  If it is there, scroll down to see some of the students’ work.

Their work is most welcome.  We need a new generation of people able to re-purpose our city centres and indeed all the neighbourhood centres in our cities.  We don’t appreciate how much unused space is above the shops we use.  Look carefully at the shops in the photos on the Facebook page, find Paperchase and four or five stories above it are empty.  Julian Dobson covers this issue in his book “How to Save Our Town Centres“.  (This link is to one of three posts, go to Book Reviews and scroll down to find the others.)

Consulting with the Public and Communities

The students were asking for comments.  It is really hard to take in complex ideas on the fly.  You can see the level of detail in the students’ plans on the Facebook page.  To be asked to take this in and then respond constructively was a challenge.

Furthermore, when I got home and read their leaflets I discovered similar displays and activities were live on that one day in four other areas!  If I had known I would have followed their route and had a look at all their displays.  I still might not have had much to say, I like to have some time to ponder stuff before commenting.

So, simpler summary displays and more time would be really helpful and is likely to result in more constructive responses from the public.  The originals could still be available for inspection – they were beautiful to look at but hard to digest!

I don’t know the detail of the consultation that went on before the public displays this week.  However, yesterday I attended a conference about Co-Production, put on by the University of Sheffield’s Social Sciences Department.  This included some exciting models for participatory work between academics and communities, many of them in Sheffield.  It would be good to see some collaboration between these departments (or even better to find out it is already happening).  I shall blog about the co-production conference some time soon.

In summary, I liked what I saw and believe with good relationships with local groups, some ideas might get off the page and become reality.  The challenge is to move from an academic exercise to something that makes a real difference.

Inter-Disciplinary Solutions

Picking up my comment about co-production, let’s take it further.  Julian Dobson describes the need to integrate several factors to regenerate urban centres.  You will see some of them if you follow the above link to my review of his book.  If we are going to regenerate our city and neighbourhood centres, we need plans that support all aspects of the local economy.

Certainly way back in the fifties and sixties, small retailers would live over the shop.  It was the natural thing to do.  I suspect it was the new supermarkets that reduced the numbers of traders living over their shops.  Maybe the increasing mobility of populations and aspirations to live in leafy suburbia also led to its decline.

Even earlier, “over the shop” meant “over the workshop”.  Goods would be manufactured, perhaps to order, in the same buildings where they retailed.  In some times and places, the master (or mistress) would own a whole block.  Family and employees would live together and share communal facilities.  Clusters of such “shops” would form the agora, the marketplace where the public gathered for business and just about every other activity.

My father’s grandmother owned a hotel (technical name for a doss house apparently) and a nearby row of terrace houses.  They are now beneath University of Sheffield buildings, having been bombed during the war.  My father remembered as a child carrying buckets of water up the stairs in the hotel.  The family business is not such an ancient practice!

New Models for LOTS

What I am driving at is the need to build new models that allow for complexity of human interactions.  You will note I’ve introduced Living Over the Shop under my general heading of “Resources for the Local Economy”.  My aim is to build a database of ideas that will help regenerate local economies.  It is unlikely any of these approaches will suffice alone.

The architects must design spaces that accommodate both contemporary and future developments in the local economy.  Communities are not just spaces but essentially the relationships within them.  Financial arrangements between people form these relationships, as much as the nature of the spaces they occupy.

This is why as living over the shop opens up new spaces, we also need to see new financial arrangements that allow money to flow in new ways around our towns.

How can Universities work with local people to support and develop local economies?

How to Market Using Scarcity

There are two approaches to scarcity and you muddle them at your own peril!  It can be

  • a genuine shortage or restriction on availability of your offer, or
  • a marketing ploy, used to encourage a quick sale.

The latter is to be deplored.  I’ll explore scarcity as a marketing ploy in more detail in my next post because it is a real issue for the entrepreneur.  My firm recommendation is you deal solely in genuine scarcity.

Types of Scarcity

  • Products may be limited in number. You may have purchased a certain amount, eg a book to go with a particular offer, or as prototypes for something you plan to develop further.
  • Time is another scarce commodity. If you are offering consultancy, there will be a limit to the number of clients you can take on.  There are ways you can manage this; you can reduce the amount of time available to clients without compromising the quality of your offer but even so there are still limits.
  • Numbers can also be restricted by quality. For example, you might offer a group service and know from experience the group is less effective over a certain size.

Less Convincing Scarcity

These are sometimes used by online marketers but should be approached with caution.

  • Digital products are never scarce, their effectively infinite numbers are what recommends them in the first place. What would be legitimate would be a price increase.  Let’s say you launch a product that requires support services.  This would clearly involve a cost to you.  Usually there is an annual fee for products that includes support and upgrades.  As the product improves it is not unreasonable to increase the price.  Some suppliers offer a rate that does not go up unless you interrupt your order by cancelling it.  This is an incentive for early customers to stay as customers.  When the price goes up, you can attach a deadline for the increase.  This way the old lower price will be a scarce commodity for a period.
  • Arbitrary time limits are to be avoided. You should always have a reason for the time limit.  So, if you’re offering a course, you will have a start date if it is an in-person course or if it is an online course, you may be able to support only a limited number of participants.  So long as the constraint is genuine, this is not a problem.
  • Your own physical products, eg books or CDs. Now, you might think these would be constrained. If you’ve ordered 1000 copies, that’s all you have.  However, you can always re-order.  But these days you can pay a company to prepare your product and mail it out in response requests.  So physical products can be just as effectively infinite as digital products.  Obviously this doesn’t apply to every type of physical product.

Take Care Using Scarcity

Be aware, you will turn off potential customers with any constraint for which there is no credible reason.  Be upfront if there is a genuine limit.  “To be sure I can provide the excellent service I promise, I have to limit my client numbers to xx per quarter.”  Something along these lines communicates that you are aware of your constraints and limit your offers accordingly.

Scarcity is a powerful marketing tool when used properly.  Don’t use it unless there is really no alternative.

Can you describe how you have used scarcity successfully?  Or have you used it improperly and been found out?  It is easy to do, without realising what you’re doing!

Resources for the Local Economy: In-Store Proximity Marketing

Will In-Store Proximity Marketing support local economies?  The idea is you download an app that suggests items to explore when you enter a shop, according to your interests.  When you visit a store, the app will tell you of offers that might interest you, via beacons attached to the products in the shop.  A helpful introduction to this technology can be found at Will Shoppers And Developers Adapt to Proximity Marketing In-Store?

So, let’s be clear.  This app works once you enter a store.  It doesn’t necessarily help you find the store in the first place.  What it does is connects you with items in the store, the app knows will interest you.  It can also make special offers.

So, does this technology potentially support the local economy?  My answer is a qualified yes.  One major threat to local shops is the Internet.  In my post Our Town Centres Today, I reference Julian Dobson’s book, How to Save Our Town Centres, where he describes three threats to neighbourhood centres and one of them is the Internet.

How so?  Well, some people look at products in stores and then search for them online where they can purchase them at a more favourable rate.  Proximity shopping can to some degree mitigate this by making the in-store experience more like the online, offering favourable deals to people known to be interested in the product.

So, imagine being in a bookshop and you are looking at a particular book that interests you but it is a bit pricey.  The app knows your past purchasing and that you enjoy that type of book.  It pings you with a special offer, perhaps a 10% reduction if you buy it now.

This could easily be combined with local currencies.  The 10% discount could be made conditional on a purchase with a local currency.  If the local currency provided the app, it could build a local database of information about local customers.  In effect the app would help shopkeepers get to know their customers.  (Normally, a large store will have its own server to manage proximity marketing.  For small businesses, smaller stores could share a server and even allow the app to take customers between shops.)

To some extent this is speculation.  Whilst there is no doubt people are working on these apps, there is no guarantee they could be integrated with local currencies.  But then we never know if anything works, unless we experiment.

Serendipity

However, I have one reservation.  One common feature of apps that personalise the retail experience is they reduce potential for serendipity.

One big advantage paper books have over electronic books is they are far easier to browse.  Similarly a bookshop or library can be browsed.  This increases happy accidents, finding things you would never predict would be of interest.

To what extent would proximity marketing form or shape our preferences?  The effects could be subtle, after all the app working well would point us towards things we know we like.  Who would argue with that?  What if a shop opened and no-one went in because their proximity apps told them, it contained nothing of interest to them?  The shop closes and no-one would miss its contents.

So, what do you think?  Would proximity marketing mitigate the effects of the Internet on local centres or would it subtly impoverish our lives?

Soft Evidence

While hard evidence is researched and independent, you generate soft evidence as you go about your business. It is sometimes called social proof because those who use your products or services produce it.  Soft evidence, reproduced in your marketing materials, is usually quotations from people who have used your services.

Use soft evidence to show that people are doing business with you and what they say about your business.  It is likely you will have little soft evidence when you start your enterprise.  Everyone has this problem but over time it becomes less of an issue.

Remember soft evidence is an essential output from the work you do.  Think of it as part of the payment for your services or products.  Ask for it at the outset and get agreement to provide it before you start work.

Examples of Soft Evidence

  • Testimonials are perhaps the most common type of soft evidence. They can be presented as text, video or audio.  Testimonial interviews are often most effective and can be used in various ways.
  • Anecdotal evidence may seem the least convincing type of soft evidence. However, you may find you are able to use this approach effectively.  The place to use it is where you are describing examples of work you’ve done with clients.  Their testimonial might not go into the level of detail where a particular incident, you need to illustrate a point, will be mentioned.  You’re saying, “this is what I did under these particular circumstances”.
  • Celebrity endorsements may be helpful I suppose. Your celebrity need not have universal appeal.  If you know someone in your field, with a significant track record, they may be willing to endorse your offer.
  • Reviews of your work can be helpful. You could, for example, ask someone to review your blog or ebook.  This could be published as a blog post and quoted on your site.

All of these accumulate as and when opportunities present themselves.  You need to be alert to such opportunities and be ready to ask at the right time.  If you need a couple of sentences, some people may be able to write it on the spot.  Longer documents, such as reviews, take time to prepare.  They can be recorded in about 20 minutes on the spot or drafted at leisure.  The risk is promises of long reviews are not always delivered, so any support you can offer is likely to be productive.

Have you any tips about collecting and publishing soft evidence?

Eight Questions to Help You Identify Innovation

Perhaps innovation is as much about people’s’ perceptions as it is something new in a product or service.  To what extent is innovation a product of brilliant marketing?  Sometimes it’s possible to promote something old in a new way.

Sometimes business owners have a good product or service but take time to understand its market.  They may find they have marketed to the wrong market.  So, they can market an innovation to the new market even though the offer has been around for a while.

If you remember the diagram from my last post, the innovation diffusion curve represents the market for the offer and not the whole world!  The model represents how the market for an innovation works for a relatively large market.  The market is not always huge but even a small market can support a small business so long as it is possible to contact the market.

Here are a few questions you can ask to help you work out what is innovatory about your offer:

Is it better than the status quo?

This question relates primarily to step 4 on the awareness ladder.  This is the stage where the potential customer is aware of your offer and you need to show how your offer is better than other offers addressing the same problem.

The status quo is the solutions to the problem that are already on the market.  You need to show why your innovation is superior, at least for some potential customers.  If it is better for some customers and not so much for others, this will help you target your market.

Occasionally the status quo is a problem your market believes has no solution.  You will be working at rung 1 of the awareness ladder or even rung 0 (where people are not aware of the problem).  Your marketing will need to establish the problem and then show there is a solution to it.

Will people perceive it as better?

People may have a fixed idea of what solves their problem.  If you offer a different solution, they may not perceive it as better.

If people do not perceive it as better, you have a problem.  You perceive it as better but potential customers do not.  This is essentially what an innovation is.  It is introducing a new product or service that changes expectations.  This is why sales can be frustrating, because people resist something new in the face of evidence that it will be better for them.

This is why you need to marshal evidence and understand your offer.  However, it is also important to understand the potential customer.  You need to listen to them and help them decide whether the offer is really for their benefit.

Does it fit with peoples’ past experience?

If it does, it probably isn’t an innovation.  Innovations challenge experience.  This is why the innovation diffusion curve begins with customers who enjoy trying out innovations.  The challenge for many businesses is finding these people in a small market.

Past experience forms the expectations of markets.  Markets do not look for new ways to tackle old problems, unless the old ways are inadequate.  If everyone is reasonably happy with the old ways, few will sacrifice reasonable happiness for delight!

Does it fit with peoples’ current needs?

When old ways are proved wanting, some people seek alternatives.  Sometimes people need a new approach because everything else they’ve tried does not solve their problem.  It can actually be difficult persuading people that there is a solution to their problem.

Or perhaps the problem is new and any solution worth a try!

Does it require a change in existing values?

This is exactly what many innovations offer, a new way of understanding an old problem.  So, organic gardening requires a change in values from the old ways, using chemical fertilizers and poisons.  The point about organic gardening is that people need details of techniques and approaches that substitute for their old approach.  The incentive to learn these new techniques is driven by a change in values.

A household seeking lower fuel bills might opt for solar panels and in so doing, value the environmental benefits.

Sometimes a change in values will drive sales and sometimes sales will drive a change in values.

How difficult is it to understand and apply?

Organic gardening may be a difficult idea to promote because it involves maybe dozens of changes to the way you garden.  However, someone who values organic gardening may be willing to learn and seeking help in various ways.

Something difficult might be perceived as challenging and therefore worthwhile because of the benefits it brings further down the road.  Don’t forget some prospects might value the challenge.

Don’t forget for online offers in particular, a monthly retainer for support can be a big incentive.

Can people “try it out” first?

There are two aspects to this.  Innovators and early adopters (see the innovation diffusion curve) may value an offer that provides benefits for being in at the start.  For early offers, it may be possible to offer a low fee and allow early customers to stay on that fee so long as they continue to support your scheme.

For majority customers, online offers often begin with an first offer of 30 or so days free service.  This enables them to try it out and decide whether they need it.  If the monthly rate includes support, upgrades, etc it can be attractive once the customer believes the product will benefit them.

If people adopt it, can the difference be discerned by others?

This makes a difference where there is a large market.  A visible presence helps make the breakthrough from early adopters to early majority.  If word gets around or the offer has some visible presence, this will enable the wider population to see its value.

Perhaps the most common difference is through word of mouth.  The benefit may be invisible but something people will tell their friends about.

These questions are not mine and I don’t know who first assembled them.  Do you find them helpful?  Are there other questions you might ask?

Hard Evidence

Evidence is wonderful stuff and hard evidence is the best!

When to Display Hard Evidence

The first thing to note is when to share evidence with a prospect.  It is not generally a good idea to introduce evidence too soon.  The early stages of conversation with a prospect is better spent listening to them and establishing what they need.

A website needs to establish its offer and the benefits to the visitor first.  Evidence at this stage should be minimal.  It might be worth displaying an award or trustmark early on a web page.  But at this stage, if you do it at all, point towards evidence but don’t actually supply it.

Why?  Well, there’s little point introducing a prospect to evidence until they are ready to hear or read it.  Evidence introduced too soon may be seen as a hard sell.  It could put the prospect on the defensive.

The best time to present evidence is at stage 4 on the awareness ladder, after you have introduced and explained your offer.  Evidence helps fill in gaps or answer the prospect’s questions.

How to Display Hard Evidence

If there is a lot of detailed information, it should be available to those who are interested.  However, it is usually best if it is available on request.  So, a key paragraph from a report can be quoted on your website, with a link to the full paper.

Most people will note the link but not follow it.  The fact the information is available is enough.  However, be sure the full report supports the details you quote.  There is nothing worse than providing information that contradicts your main account.

If you link to a web page on someone else’s site, keep an eye on it!  If they move the information, you will need to revise the link.

You can provide hard evidence in summary on your website and in your literature.  If you are going to do this, make it accessible.  So, use graphs, charts and diagrams.  You can use key quotes and of course Frequently Asked Questions.

What is Hard Evidence?

Hard evidence is backed by clearly sourced research.  Like everything else it is a matter of judgement.  So, an independent source is usually better than the results of your own research but selectively quoting independent evidence might devalue it, whilst well-designed personal research might carry real persuasive power.  If you are using independent source material, quote from it and offer a link to the original.

  • Case studies are often used for educational purposes. As such they are a specialist medium.  However, if you are planning to use them for marketing they can be a helpful way of managing expectations.  You can show what the original problem was, how you approached it and the outcome for the client.  It may be possible to provide further evidence, eg by linking to websites, testimonials and so on.
  • Reports can be useful but the chances are you will need to quote from them as visitors to your site are unlikely to have the time to read it. Provide a link to the full report so that the interested visitor can check the report for themselves.
  • Statistics can be misleading and if you are going to use them it is worth getting expert guidance. Don’t assume the statistics presented in a report are not misleading.  Beware of things like pictograms and logarithmic curves.  The raw data may be fine but the way you present it can mislead.  Wherever possible, link to the original data.

There may be other options. Evidence can be considered hard if it is well-researched and ideally independently generated.  It is not always available and so don’t worry if you can’t produce hard evidence, there is always soft evidence to consider.

Have you good examples of using hard evidence in marketing?

What is Innovation Diffusion?

You may be familiar with the idea of Innovation Diffusion and the diagram below.  In this post I’ll explain what it is about and ask how it applies to small enterprises.

Innovation diffusion, bell shaped curve. Time flows left to rght. Curve divided into 5 sections labelled: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggardsThe diagram shows how people take up new products or services.  Time flows from left to right. Where a product takes off, the curve shows how people take up the offer.  This pattern is particularly helpful where there is a large potential market and the product becomes popular.

Testing the product or service takes place among a few innovators, who enjoy trying out new ideas. They are not too worried about investing in something that might not work.  Early adopters take up an improved product and feed back more information.  The big step is moving to the early majority.  A product that breaks through to its potential market sees rapid growth in sales as the product becomes fashionable.  As sales increase, they will inevitably pass a point where sales start to decline and these are the late majority.  The laggards are people in the market for the product who are not interested or choose to delay purchase for some reason.

The thing to note is this is the typical life cycle of a successful product.  There is no guarantee an innovation will follow this pattern.  Most innovations fizzle out in the innovators or early adopters stages.  Why?  The reasons are complex but quality of product is no guarantee of success.

Innovation Diffusion and the Small Business

To what extent is this model helpful to the small entrepreneur who has a new idea and sets out to sell it?  A big, established company can pay innovators to test their product in return for testimonials and other publicity.  This is an option open to a small entrepreneur but many may not able to give it away to many people.  Also fear that it may be copied and promoted more efficiently by a more established player, may inhibit those early stages.

Another issue for small businesses is the size of their market.  Successful products may have a huge potential market and for small businesses, servicing a niche or local market, building up a head a steam as implied by the central part of the curve may be difficult.  This is not to say that a business in this situation is necessarily doomed to being unsuccessful.  If it can communicate with its market, it may be possible to generate enough sales.

So, for the small business the issues are the size of their potential market and how effective they are at reaching it.  Next Friday, I shall review a few questions entrepreneurs can ask, when marketing a new idea to a limited potential market.

Have you seen this model before and how helpful do you find it?

The Proposition Value Triangle

This post focuses on how to discuss the proposition value triangle with prospects.  Check out my recent post about the Value Triangle if you are not familiar with it.

It is important your prospect understands they can have two out of high-quality, low-cost and high-speed.  I tell my prospects that if they sign up with me they get a service tailored to their needs at a relatively low cost.  So, if they want a website I can offer them low-cost (about a tenth of the national average charge from a web developer of £10-15 000).  I offer quality in the sense that by working with me they will understand how their website works and how to use it to support their marketing strategy.  They sacrifice speed, as work on their website might take 6 months or longer.

If they are seeking speed, I recommend a web developer.  I might on occasion suggest they sign up for one of my packages so that I can help them prepare a brief for their web developer.

Note how I can explain the value triangle without mentioning it.  It is a model to have in mind and use to guide you in your conversation.

Another approach is to ask the prospect which two of the three criteria are most important to them.  You can then talk them through the implications, helping them find a good referral if you cannot meet their needs.

So, let’s look at each response the prospect can present:

High-Quality, Low-Cost

This is likely to be the most common response.  If the prospect presents this, you need to find out what they mean by high quality.  If they’re seeking a website, are they thinking about technical wizardry or a website that delivers for their enterprise?

Your aim is to clarify what the prospect means by high quality.  Sometimes, this will be a revelation to the prospect as much as it is to you.  It is vitally important you listen to the prospect because if your understanding of high quality is not what the prospect wants, you will disappoint them.

If you can provide the high quality product or service they need, make them an offer.  Otherwise you need to make a referral.  Your low-cost package will be an alternative to other suppliers.

The prospect at this stage needs to understand what you are offering.  “Yes, we can achieve the quality you want but as this is a low-cost offer, there are some things you won’t receive.”

For my offer, low speed may be an advantage.  The focus is on working alongside the prospect to help them learn how to market their business or organisation locally.  I am offering a consultancy, not a web developer service and this means the prospect does the work, with my support over 3 – 6 months.  The plan is by working with me, the prospect will walk away with greater understanding and able to carry the work forward.  This naturally takes time and if it is what the customer needs, it can be a good deal.

High-Speed, Low-Cost

This is the low quality option.  Why should anyone want low quality?

Well actually, low quality can be really useful.  There are industries that offer fast, adequate products online.  Examples are oDesk and Fiverr – Google them if you’re interested.

One of these services designed the three-dimensional cover for my ebook.  It cost me under £10 to get the design and have it converted to three-D.  It took a few hours.  They offered six options to choose from.

Now, it is not ideal.  But my ebook just needs something eye-catching and fairly professional looking.  It does the job.  May be something else would bring in more conversions but is it worth the time, effort and money to find out?

It would be if I receive a lot of online traffic, perhaps promoting the ebook via Adwords or Facebook.  But most of my sign-ups are local and they sign up for a variety of reasons usually following conversations with me.

High-speed, low-cost is useful for trying things out.  There is no point spending hours on something that is not going to work.  Sometimes a quick and dirty solution can result in enough information to refine things later.

High-Quality, High-Speed

And this of course is where the big money is!  If you can provide a high quality product or service at great speed, there will be people who can pay for it.  Often the person who pays for this type of offer values time.

They don’t want to commit their own time to developing this service or product, sometimes because it is too technical for them and taking time to learn it might cost more.  Also, simply because they want to deploy their time elsewhere.

Maybe they are launching something new and need online support for what they are doing quickly.  Whilst it is usually possible to plan ahead, sometimes an opportunity presents itself and the customer needs to purchase someone else’s time.

So, each of these three options represents reality and most people will use each from time to time.

How do you use the value triangle when discussing your proposition with a prospect?

How to Help Prospects Understand the Value of Purchasing Support

In my previous post in this circuit questionnaire sequence, about the Proposition, I suggested organisations need constant developmental change to be successful.  Most organisations need help to think about change strategically.  Whatever you are selling, you need to be aware of this.  Is your prospect aware of the need for change or clinging to the false comfort of business as usual?  Do they understand the value of purchasing support?

The hardest point developing a consultancy relationship is the gap between someone expressing interest and committing to a purchase.

The issue is not the quality of your offer but their lack of conviction it is right for them.  They may be keen to sign up. However, if there is an unavoidable period between this decision and payment, their initial ardour can cool.  Often this delay is because they need to consult with a management committee or family member.

If the decision-making period becomes too long, the first enthusiasm is bound to wane and your prospect, who is your advocate with others you almost certainly have not met, needs to maintain their enthusiasm to see it through.

It seems there are two issues here: their enthusiasm and the length of the delay.

At the outset some delay can be positive, eg it may be helpful to have a cooling-off period.  If the prospect is still enthusiastic after a short period of reflection, it may be a good thing.  Where delivery depends on the positive attitude of the prospect, they need to be certain they’ve signed up to the right thing.

Some Approaches to Mitigating the Delay

So, here are a few thoughts:

  • At the enrolment conversation, ask who needs to make this decision. If this is a meeting some weeks away, it may be worth asking if it is possible to short-circuit it in some way.  Does the Chair have the power to agree the proposal, for example?  It may be helpful to introduce a financial incentive at this point.
  • Promise an email within 48 hours with (1) your proposal, (2) information for the third parties who will be considering your offer and (3) a piece of work your prospect can start. This last could be something that requires a conversation on completion and shows the prospect what it will be like working with you.
  • It may be an idea to phone the prospect a day or so before the crucial meeting to make sure they’ve shared the information and to check they are confident they can steer the proposal through the meeting.
  • Your prospect is to be your advocate at the meeting and perhaps this is a good thing.  If they can steer the decision through the meeting, it is evidence of their committment to your offer.  Is there any advantage to you being present at the meeting?

A Couple More Issues to Consider

The circuit questionnaire suggests two other things it may be possible to do:

  • Be clear about what sort of person working with you will make them. As your reputation grows and you have some testimonials, it will help to show them your track record.  However, everyone has to start.  Usually the issue for someone taking on a consultant is they need help to try ideas and inspiration for new ones.  Many people running organisations are (1) isolated in the sense they are the only person thinking strategically and have not found someone who can accompany them, and (2) bogged down in operational management and needing accountability to set the time aside for strategic thinking.  So, for me I’m offering the opportunity to think strategically about how they promote their organisation.
  • Does buying into your offer confer membership of some group? If it does and they can encounter others who have made the same decision, this can be immensely helpful.  Not only do they get the benefit of the wisdom and experiences of these people, the simple fact that others have made the same decision is reassuring.

Offer a Bit Extra

For the single person enterprise, this can be daunting.  But the big advantage of any small operation is the ability to offer that bit extra.  For example, I am currently putting a lot of effort into networking in the business and community sectors.  This means I have a lot of valuable information and contacts I can make available to my local clients.  This experience may also be of value for clients in other parts of the country, where I can help them make similar contacts in their area.

It is a narrow path.  You want to sign up the right prospects who understand and value your offer.  You can lose valuable prospects or win prospects who turn out to be the wrong clients.  The latter is potentially more damaging.  It is far better for the latter group to connect them with a business better suited to their needs.

Have you had experiences where you have lost potentially valuable clients or signed up the wrong person?  What did you learn from these experiences?

Using the Yes No Matrix

Last time I asked how do you prove the benefits you claim for your offer can be delivered?  Assuming your approach is effective, the yes no matrix can help you anticipate objections and respond to them.

It works like this:

Advantages Disadvantages
Say yes to the offer
Say no to the offer

 

The table helps the vendor marshal their arguments.  Work through the four central cells for your own offer.  Your answers in all four cells can inform your marketing of your offer by helping you anticipate objections and so work out how to respond to them.

Each of the quarters in this table can be turned to your advantage.  I’ll illustrate this with notes I made some time ago for my business.  My business has moved on so I can comment on these notes as if they were someone else!

Advantages of Saying Yes

At the time, I saw benefits for a client’s organisation and for their website.  I wouldn’t break things down in the same way now but it is interesting to see what I identified at the time:

Organisation

  • Clarity about your vision or purpose
  • Identification of your cause, product and / or service
  • Identification of the issues your organisation is facing
  • Identify your market and how to sell to it in line with your values

Website

  • A website you own, control and understand.
  • Understanding how to make the most of your site
  • Not tied to one web designer or consultant
  • Site security, etc taken care of so you can focus on content

To some degree these benefits miss the mark; they don’t quite express the benefits.  Let’s work on this business and see how its benefits can be better expressed.  This is a useful exercise for you.  Write down your benefits, leave them for a few weeks and then revisit and improve them.

Organisation

  • A clear statement of your vision and purpose so that you attract potential customers to your offer
  • A product, service and/or cause, designed to meet the needs of your customers
  • Identify the main reasons why your organisation is not as effective at marketing as it could be
  • Clarity about how your market’s needs match your values so that you can market with conviction

Website

  • A website under your control so that you can adapt it to support your local marketing needs as circumstances change
  • Understand the fine details of presentation that enable visitors to respond to your website in the way you wish
  • Independence so that you can select the website support you need for the next stage in your journey
  • Understanding of the basics of security so that you can rely on your site to be supporting your marketing

These are not final statements for any business but they illustrate how you can target the advantages of your offer to meet the needs of your potential customers.

Costs of Saying Yes

Here are my historic answers:

  • Financial – may be hard for some groups
  • Time – especially in organisations run by volunteers
  • Valued practices may have to change

The point to be made here is to be upfront about the costs of saying yes.

  • By being honest, you can increase the confidence your potential customer has in you.
  • They also need to understand the commitment you are asking them to make, especially where success depends as much on their contribution as on yours.
  • It shows you have thought through the offer and you are sharing an insight into what it will mean for the potential customer

Advantages of Saying No

  • You can continue as you are
  • Likely to be less disruptive
  • Saves money and time (or does it?)

Each of these can be turned to your advantage.  If the potential client is seeking change, continuing as they are may not be as attractive as it might first appear.  Saying no may appear to be the safe option but it depends whether they really need this to the extent they are able and willing to put in the commitment.  The money and time saved here is not the same money and time they would save or generate by taking up your offer.  They save the cost of the offer but lose whatever benefits your offer implies.  Your task is to show you can deliver the improved performance and that it is worth more than the immediate costs.

Costs of Saying No

  • Rubbish website that consumes time for no benefit
  • A site held hostage by a designer who is no longer interested in your site

This is a poor answer.  This last quarter in the matrix is about reinforcing the value of the offer to the customer.  You are offering a benefit of great value to them and so they lose out if they say no.

One major issue for a lot of organisations is the status quo appears to be comfortable.  It is possible to continue bumbling along until the money runs out, never taking up the challenge to reach your full potential.

The Moribund Organisation

These two bullets illustrate the typical practices of a moribund organisation.  Carrying on as you are with no innovative change is a recipe for catastrophic failure.  The alternatives any organisation faces is to grow or to fail.  Ultimately, you may be discerning whether your particular offer is right for the potential customer but they need to understand that if they choose ‘no’, they must go to an alternative offer with a better fit.  Sometimes you may be able to help them find that better fit.

Any marketing is a skill in helping the potential customer express what they need and then finding a good match for them.  They are seeking help and must not simply decide to abide in the status quo, which has never worked.  Without vision organisations perish.

How can you help organisations understand they need constant developmental change?

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